Mercenaries
by Platinum Dragoness
Summary: A broken princess is now a mercenary sniper.
1. West of Alpha Centari

Title: Mercenaries, West of Alpha Centari  
**Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not mine.**  
Theme: "Broken Down Angel"--Nazareth lyrics  
Genre: Drama, Angst?  
Version: Anime  
Rating: PG 

"Hey, hey, Chiba! Come over here. The new guy wants ta meet ya!"

There was only a grunt in reply.

"Well, anyway, that's Chiba Rini. She's our best sniper."

"She? That's a girl?"

"Ya never seen a shave-headed chick before? Some merc ya be. Well, few go as all-out masculine as Rini. She's a real joker, though. When she joined up at Alpha Centari… no, it was before that, on Earth, right after King Endymion and Princess Serenity died, but a little 'fore Neo-Queen Serenity died an' everything went ta rest of ta way ta hell. Anyway, when she first comes here, she says her name be Tsukino Usagi. Like she be ta damned queen or somethin'. Real kidder, Chiba Rini be. Said her da had died and there be nothin' else for her."

"So, she's a real nutter?"

"Nah, she's a good enough sort. Not crazier 'en most, anyway. She's one of us, a merc, neh?"


	2. Trip Home

Title: Mercenaries, Trip Home  
**Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon**  
Theme: Crack--Trip  
Genre: Drama, Angst  
Version: Anime  
Rating: PG-13 

"We're going through the Sol system for resupply, recruitment, and I need to talk with Deidarius from the Blue Stars. What can you tell me?"

"Only one planet currently occupied, though more than a dozen more supporting Senshi. And the Crystal Tokyo War-in-which-we-do-not-get-involved."

"I knew that!" Ashtonia resisted the urge to hit the other mercenary over the head. That was not how to lead. "You're the company gossip, Miria, what did you think I wanted?! Who's from there and who's likely to blow their lid?"

"A bunch 'a us are from there; we always get some good recruiting done. Every person on that planet wants to kill everyone else, so of course they want to get off. And most of them have the military training already."  
"Who had issues or potential issues? More than normal."

"Brahm Weathers should be kept away from people from the country 'America'. Remember what happened on Ristiv? Chu Shenlong better not run into anyone in his family or there'll be killin', but he's not likely to seek them out. Qin's going to be like normal, but I don't think she has issues with Earth in specific."

"Yeah, I remember her issues. I'll remind her we are fightin' the minimum possible and I'll have Trent keep an eye on her and keep her away from the Crystal Palace. We are not gettin' involved in a war like this, that will never end, kill us all, and we'll never get paid. So, we'll keep the trigger-happy ex-Royal Guard away from the Palace."

"Srij can't be let on Earth. Just no."

"He joined five years ago, a little after the wars started, about the same time as Chiba… Hey, Chiba Rini?"

"Even I can't tell you what her issues are. Said when she joined that everyone she cared about was dead."

"I remember."

"Never seen her off the handle before, bur we haven't been to Earth since."  
"I'll have a special eye kept on her. Who's her roommate?"

"K!toth."

"I'll tell her."

K!toth found the sky too blue, a light periwinkle shade without enough orange to offset it. Evidentially, it was an exceptionally clear day, with no clouds in the sky and very little smoke from explosions.

Boss was having another loud argument with a customs official that they were not here to fight, for any faction. Finally she started invoking the name "Countess Astonia'nariel ul'Farithem of Sezarus". K!toth grinned toothily at the knowledge that they would be finished with this in minutes if they were already that far.

Her roommate brushed against her shoulder, lightly enough that it didn't muse her green fur. She frowned at Rini. She seemed moodier and more withdrawn than usual, thought maybe that was just the warning boss had given her making her paranoid. Rini was always like this.

The glare coming off Rini's bald-shaven head was painful, so K!toth yawned to cover moving her face to a better angle. "It suk!s we have to go to K!rystal Tok!yo, where the fights are so heavy and the bars are shut holes. I'd rather be in western Russia, with the good vodk!a." Rini didn't answer, which wasn't unusual, though she usually offered a slight grunt to show she was aware K!toth was speaking. "But boss really wants to talk! to Deidarius Shazaar and the Blue Stars are stationed here. Miria said we k!an barhop. We're not on rek!ruitment duty or anything." Was that a nod? Probably not, but she was going to pretend.

K!toth just wanted to get hammered, that was the purpose of the whole trip, but boss seemed more inclined to make them work on her objectives. Boss, the two of them, and four others split off toward the Crystal Place zone. The palace itself had long ago been reduced to rubble, but Qin's directions that Trent had given boss seemed to lead them to the correct temporary headquarters. Qin had been some kind of guard of the whole district, so she knew the layout of everything perfectly, even if she had hardly ever seen the royal family herself. She was not with the group, though. Better to get lost than have an anti-royalist faction take them on because they thought she was still in the service and Qin would probably start shooting if no on beat her to it and everything would just be a mess. K!toth had no interest in why there was still a royalist faction when the queen, king, and only princess had been dead nearly five years.

"Hey, Ashtonia!"

"Deidarius."

"I heard you were looking for me. I got your memo last week. I was going to get us a conference room so we could look at some charts I have of the Pvark system, but there's about to be a sudden meeting between Sailor Mars and representatives from Elysion."

"Ah, here they are now. Shall we go to your company base, then?"

Sailor Mars was a fiery, dark-haired girl still in adolescence, as well as K!toth could tell Earthling ages.

"It's across town in Akihabara. I'd take us to the closest company fort, but it's under siege right now." An explosion sounded in the distance to underscore his words.

"Where else is secure enough, not that I expect anyone from here cares about what's going on beyond their planet?"

"I know a bar near here we can pay for privacy. As you say asteroid tactics and the deployment of mercenary companies in Gamma Sector are not big things here."  
"They could use a variation of Sunstone's Bombardment with that asteroid belt they have between the fourth and fifth planets."  
"You know, theoretically, some of them still want there to be habitable portions of this planet."

"Not from what I heard about the atomics on that subcontinent."

K!toth had taken two steps before she realized Rini was not still with her. She turned to see her roommate standing stock still, staring at the party from Elysion.

One of the delegates broke off from the rest and ran over to her. "Maiden!"

Rini was shaking, K!toth could see. "Stay away from me!"

The light blue-haired young man stopped abruptly. "I thought you were dead."

"Go away. I don't want to see you."

"Maiden—"  
"I'm not your maiden! I'm Chiba Rini, sniper of the mercenary company Vagrant Distaff!"

It was the most words in a row K!toth had ever heard the other mercenary speak since she'd met her. Both boss and Sailor Mars were running over to them and the girl turned and ran. When K!toth found her later, in the ship, she was sobbing and clutching a single strand of long pink hair in her fist.


	3. Further Antagonization

Title: Further Antagonization  
**Disclaimer : I do not own Sailor Moon**  
Theme: Family--Crisis  
Genre: Drama  
Version: Anime  
Rating: PG 

"We've already antagonized them, now you want to be blacklisted by the entire Intergalactic Mercenary Guild to detain some mercenary company because Helios thinks their sniper looks like Princess Serenity, who's dead."

"It was her," Helios maintained.

"What's the likelihood this is a trap?" asked Kumada Yui, Sailor Mars.

"Low," admitted Shingo. "They're not working for any of our enemies and they're friends with some of our hirelings. They wouldn't do a trap like this; Vagrant Distaff is a good, respected mercenary group, that's why we let them in our territory in the first place."

"The princess is dead," Yui said passionately. "I won't believe she would have concealed herself as some mercenary and left the planet tearing itself apart in this war these last five years if she weren't dead like her parents."

"Placate the mercenaries," ordered Shingo.

"But don't let them leave," said his young daughter China.

Seeing a sympathetic opening, Helios cut in, "Her name is Chiba Rini, that's blatant, to us."

"Give the mercenaries the best accommodations we can muster, but let us very politely keep them in those accommodations until they just allow us in the same room as their Chiba Rini. Nothing outrageous," the little girl smiled sweetly.


End file.
